Studies show Indiana teens more likely to use drugs

By the time their senior year of high school rolls around, nearly half of Monroe County students will be drinking alcohol on a monthly basis, according to a recent Monroe County Community School Corporation survey.

This puts local students higher than both national and state averages for the same age group.

What really has drug and alcohol awareness advocates worried, however, is the pattern of early use that exists in the Bloomington area.

“A kid that starts drinking in eighth grade just doesn’t stop,” said Linda Hanek, state incentive grant program director at the Asset Building Coalition.

ABC is a Monroe County organization dedicated to promoting awareness of and preventing underage drinking and drug use.

Among eighth graders in the county, 20 percent reported using alcohol and 10 percent reported using marijuana at least once per month, according to the MCCSC survey.

While these numbers show significant improvement from previous years (eighth grade alcohol use has dropped nearly 15 percent in Monroe County since 1996, and the decline has been even greater among older students), ABC members and school officials remain concerned.

“We started collecting data in 1995, and our use was at its peak then,” said Jen Staab, a counselor at Batchelor Middle School in Bloomington and former Healthy Schools Program coordinator for MCCSC. “That doesn’t mean it’s still not a problem.”

Several years ago MCCSC dropped the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program used elsewhere in the country and instead opted for the LifeSkills Training program, which Staab said has been more successful in Monroe County.

“It’s about how to make good decisions,” Staab said. “We noticed it changing with some of our studies.”

Hanek and Staab agreed the program is more comprehensive and teaches students about decision-making and not only the “just say no” adage of the D.A.R.E. program.
“You don’t tell your dog not to get fleas and then send him out into the dog park,” Hanek said.

Staab said the program change was a primary reason monthly drug use rates among the county’s students have decreased so much.

“I think we have to give credit to the schools,” Hanek said. “Our community has become more enlightened.”

LifeSkills begins in elementary schools and continues through the middle school years. MCCSC worked with ABC to integrate the program with the high school health curriculum this year.

But it’s not just students’ decisions that cause problems. Hanek said the other major factor within the Bloomington area specifically is the environment.

“We have a community here with high access to alcohol,” she said. “The environment plays a key role.”

While Hanek said she doesn’t want to place blame, she also said the University contributes significantly to this environment.

“The youth have so much access,” ABC Executive Director Susan Forney said. “We found in our research that they are more likely to get alcohol from those who just turned 21, their near peers. All the kids said, ‘I’ve got friends who are older.’”

The environment also contributes to high marijuana use, Staab said.

“The one reason marijuana use is still so high (compared to 15 years ago) is that it’s still socially acceptable,” she said.

One of ABC’s more recent campaigns to curb youth marijuana use and underage drinking is aimed not at the children themselves but at the of-age individuals who provide them with drinks.

“We reaffirm the message that it is illegal to serve teens,” Hanek said.

They have also begun to focus some energy on parents by reminding them of the less immediate consequences of early alcohol or drug consumption.

“If someone starts drinking at 15, then the chance of addiction is much greater. There are long-term consequences for your child,” Hanek said.

She said many parents are concerned about immediate dangers of drinking and that as long as their children make it home safely, the parents are OK with whatever they do.

Some parents even offer to host parties and provide the alcohol because then they know it is being consumed in a safe environment, she said.

MCCSC has responded by working with medical professionals to inform adults of the dangers of alcohol consumption by the youth in their care.

While Monroe County students’ drug use patterns are significant, they pale in comparison to their Marion County counterparts.

“We have been experiencing higher numbers participating in gateway drugs and an earlier onset of youth in sixth or eighth grade,” said Nancy Beals, prevention project coordinator at Drug Free Marion County, an organization that works to reduce underage drug and alcohol use in Indianapolis.

Among Indianapolis-area eighth graders, 22 percent use alcohol monthly and 17 percent use marijuana monthly.

“For Marion County, the two factors that stood out dramatically above other states are family conflict and having a good friend engaged in antisocial behavior,” Beals said.
Antisocial behavior includes suspension from school, drug or alcohol use and suicidal tendencies, she said.

Beals said in Indianapolis, the primary focus is reinforcing positive relationships with friends and families.

“You tend to engage in the same behavior your friends do,” Beals said.

Just like their Monroe County peers, students in Marion County have seen more programs aimed at drug and alcohol usage reduction introduced into their school curriculums.

Above all, these organizations are focused on education.

“People get stuck on this idea of regulating alcohol,” Hanek said. “We just need to be mindful of our consequences.”